Greece jails U.S. captain on Gaza-bound boat

GREECE

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, July 3, 2011

Athens, Greece --

The American captain of a U.S.-flagged boat in a planned flotilla to Gaza was jailed Saturday, a day after trying to sail out of port, flotilla organizers said.

A judge contended that the boat, the Audacity of Hope, was not carrying proper safety equipment and charged the captain, John Klusmire, with "disturbing sea traffic and endangering passengers," and with disobeying an official directive, said Ann Wright, an organizer.

On Friday, Greece's Ministry of Citizen Protection banned all vessels from leaving Greek ports for the "maritime area of Gaza." The police had also ordered The Audacity of Hope to remain docked until the port authorities provided the results of an inspection. After waiting one week for the inspection results, however, organizers decided to sail without Greek authorization.

Just 20 minutes after the boat left port near Athens on Friday, the coast guard stopped it and escorted it to a military dock near Athens. The police told Klusmire and his crew to remain aboard. On Saturday, Klusmire was summoned to a court in the port city of Piraeus, Wright said. A second hearing for Klusmire is scheduled for Tuesday.

Separately, an investigation by the Turkish police concluded that claims by Irish flotilla organizers that their boat had been sabotaged while docked in Turkey were erroneous, according to a report in the Turkish daily Hurriyet that was confirmed by an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Israel says it imposed the blockade in 2007 to stop weapons reaching the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza. Activists describe the blockade as a form of incarceration for the Palestinians.

Nine activists on a Turkish boat were killed last year in an Israeli raid on a similar flotilla.

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